Octavio Paz (1914–1998) Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature
Alternating Current (1967)
Source: On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. pub. 1976), Chapter 12, Writing About Yourself: The Memoir, p. 99.
Octavio Paz (1914–1998) Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature
Alternating Current (1967)
“The art of writing books is not yet invented. But it is at the point of being invented.”
Novalis book Blüthenstaub
Fragment No. 114
Blüthenstaub (1798)
Context: The art of writing books is not yet invented. But it is at the point of being invented. Fragments of this nature are literary seeds. There may be many an infertile grain among them: nevertheless, if only some come up!
“Art imitates Nature, and Necessity is the Mother of Invention.”
Richard Franck (1858–1938) German composer
Northern Memoirs, written in 1658 and published in 1694 along with another work by Franck, The Contemplative and Practical Angler
“The real truths are those that can be invented.”
Karl Kraus (1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
Anthony Powell A Dance to the Music of Time
Hearing Secret Harmonies (1975), ch. 3.
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951-1975)
“To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.”
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) Italian composer
Copiare il vero può essere una buona cosa, ma inventare il vero è meglio, molto meglio.
Letter to Clara Maffei, October 20, 1876, cited from James P. Cassaro (ed.) Music, Libraries and the Academy (Middleton, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, 2007) p. 218; translation from the same source.
“All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions”
John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer
“Since you may never discover the truth, invent it.”
Nicholas Lore (1944) American social scientist
NOW WHAT? The Young Person's Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career, Simon & Schuster, 2008. ISBN 9780743266307
“Sheer necessity,—the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Critic
Act I, sc. ii.
The Critic (1779)